This Members' Club Is Expanding To Help Millennials Live Way Beyond Their Means

The view Magnises members get at New York Islanders games. Photo Credit: Rebecca Chin

During New York Islanders games at the shiny
Barclays Center, hundreds of seats in the front rows are not filled by rich businessmen in suits or dolled-up celebrities or even die-hard, season ticket holder hockey fans. They are occupied by millennials living well beyond their means and loving every minute of it.

These ticket holders are members of Magnises, a club for millennials who pay $250 a year for access to high-end experiences.

In March 2014, when Magnises was started by 24-year-old college drop-out Billy McFarland, members received parties and fun networking opportunities. Last summer the club added a concierge service that got members hard-to-get reservations and surprised them at dinner with free bottles of champagne or magic shows (we wrote about it here.) Now, for a little extra, the club is selling passes: a series of tickets in whatever arena members want or need the most.

There is a WorkPass where NYC-based Magnises members can get a desk at new co-working space AlleyNYC (it calls itself "The Most Badass Coworking Space on the Planet") for just $99 a month. They go for $450 a month for everyone else.

For just $65 a month members can get ClubPass, a way to get into different nightclubs every evening (the options change depending on the night.) This is particularly valuable for men, points out McFarland, who dole out $1500 for a table just to get in the doors.

There is a HotelPass where members can get $79 hotel rooms in upscale locations around the city if they check in after 11 pm (they are too drunk to go home or want to continue the party in private?)

Magnises is also striving to offer more perks to all members without them having to buy passes. Tesla racing events, tech demos with Samsung, mixology classes with Johnnie Walk, and the ringside Islanders tickets are given out on a first come, first service basis.

“We know the lifestyle millennials are looking for,” said McFarland. “We’re taking that desire and making a certain lifestyle attainable.”

With all his offerings, McFarland has used the same business model: members pay to be part of Magnises, but Magnises doesn't pay for the perks. The founder convinces brands - like The Dream Hotel, like The Islanders - to offer incredible tickets or rooms or gifts to his members for free because it’s in their best interest to reach the next generation. “It’s not easy to capture a millennial customer for the long haul or their $1.3 trillion in annual buying power,” he said. “Magnises has come in and filled this void by becoming the brand’s go to in order to connect with an engage millennials.” In other words, these millennials get to live the high life just because they are a certain age and people are desperate to get them.

It’s still unclear how Magnises screens its members for quality. McFarland says they seek to attain successful people across diverse professions. The few events I've been to are super diverse with people at all levels of their careers (and income bracket. $250 isn't that prohibitive of a cost in New York City...) But what the club clearly has going for it is sheer numbers. It has 12,000 members in New York City and Washington D.C. and has plans to launch in San Francisco in April and Los Angeles and Chicago in June.

McFarland warns he won’t stop until he offers more and more opportunities, experiences, and perks for his people. More passes will be launched in the next few months, and this spring and summer the club is holding other events like trips to the Bahamas in private planes. “We are the essential catalyst for every urban professional who wants to take their professional and social life to the next level."

Front row hockey tickets is certainly a great place to start.

I write about gems - hotels, destinations, people, ideas - that I find in this wide world of ours! (@AlysonBKrueger)